This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Instrument clusters within vehicles may include a collection of instruments for displaying operational information such as vehicle speed, engine RPM, engine temperature, fuel level, alternator output and other information related to driving or vehicle component status. Vehicle instruments may include analog or digital readings for displaying information depending upon manufacturer and styling preferences. An analog instrument typically includes a face having indicia such as numbers, graduations to demark the indicia and a pointer for rotating to the graduations.
One design consideration for an instrument cluster and associated instruments is the ability of a vehicle operator to easily view and read the instruments in all driving environments. In particular, nighttime driving requires the instrument cluster to illuminate in some fashion such that the numbers and indicia are quickly and easily discernible. One method of making the instrument cluster more quickly easily discernible is to use three-dimensional (3D) instrument faces; however, such 3D instrument faces have not been without their share of problems.
For instance, graduations and indicia of instruments may protrude above the instrument face thereby creating an instrument that may not be quickly readable because of the quantity of 3D parts. Still yet, pressed sheets traditionally used to form instrument faces may not be producible with sharp corners and sharp edges, and thus when illuminated, such faces do not provide a desirable lighted, 3D appearance. What is needed then is a device that does not suffer from the above disadvantages.